Except for an establishing shot at the opening of each of these 18 flimsy shorts, we get absolutely no sense that we are in Paris. Most pieces take place indoors, or in nondescript locations, which could have been in any city in the world. Most of the situations too could be taking place anywhere.
Some stories are totally abysmal -- by far the worst being Vincenzo Natali's "Quartier de la Madeleine," starring Elijah Wood and Olga Kurylenko as vampires; another irritatingly meaningless piece is Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy."
If your French is good you will enjoy and appreciate Alexander Payne's "14ème Arrondissement," starring Margo Martindale as a Denver postal worker spending her holiday in Paris; the voice-over consists of her narration in terrible French which one must understand in order to really appreciate, since the subtitles will not do justice to her hilarious Franglais ("... après avoir sauvé mon argent..."). This is by far the best piece in the collection -- which isn't saying much
Some stories are totally abysmal -- by far the worst being Vincenzo Natali's "Quartier de la Madeleine," starring Elijah Wood and Olga Kurylenko as vampires; another irritatingly meaningless piece is Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy."
If your French is good you will enjoy and appreciate Alexander Payne's "14ème Arrondissement," starring Margo Martindale as a Denver postal worker spending her holiday in Paris; the voice-over consists of her narration in terrible French which one must understand in order to really appreciate, since the subtitles will not do justice to her hilarious Franglais ("... après avoir sauvé mon argent..."). This is by far the best piece in the collection -- which isn't saying much